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China Daily, People's
Republic of China
Republican Presidential
Race 'Hijacks' China-U.S. Relations
Are
Republicans making statements about China that they will later regret? According
to senior editor Fei Erzi of the state-run China Daily, Republican
candidates have picked up on the 'sadness of Americans' at not being able to 'influence
global economic outcomes. So they have decided to ' go to extremes,' raising
the likelihood of a trade war.
By Fei Erzi
January 21, 2012
People's Republic of China - China Daily - Original
Article (English)
People both in and out of the
United States and are closely watching the Republican presidential campaign. With
the Republican caucus in Iowa and primary in New Hampshire, Americans officially
embarked on the road to November's critical presidential election. The journey
will be heavily influenced by differing interpretations of the American economy
and U.S relationships around the world.
Some people lament the extent
to which the America has lost its competitive edge to other nations, especially
in Asia. There is sadness that the U.S. can no longer influence global economic
outcomes.
So it should come as no
surprise when candidates go to extremes to make a point clear in the heat of
the campaign. They have already begun, having allowed domestic U.S. politics to
hijack Sino-U.S. relations.
Republicans candidates
emphasize that it is necessary to confront China. Mitt Romney, the presumed
frontrunner, is already attacking Beijing. He asserts that President Obama has
allowed China to "run all over us" when it comes to taking American
jobs. He favors imposing tariffs on China to "punish" it for
"currency manipulation."
But China is much more than
what Republicans think. The Pew Research Center has identified three core Republican
groups, based on responses to certain questions. About 80 percent of
"staunch conservatives" want the U.S. to get tough with China on
economic issues, but both "Main Street Republicans" and
"Libertarians" are evenly divided on whether Washington should get
tough or build stronger economic ties.
Should we be angry that China
figures so prominently in an election campaign on the other side of the
Pacific?
Washington advocates of
stronger Sino-U.S. trade and cooperation look with concern at the anti-Beijing
rhetoric, fearing that it could lead our countries into a trade war. The U.S.-China
Business Council has even produced fact sheets detailing the impact of China trade
on key primary and caucus states.
New Hampshire, for example,
exports goods totaling $412 million to China every year, making it the
third-largest exporter to China among U.S. states. South Carolina exports goods
worth $2.2 billion to China. In addition, annual exports from Nevada to China rose
from about $11 million in 1996 to more than $455 million in 2010, according to
data provided by the state.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
There is little doubt that U.S.
global economic dominance is coming to end. The future will see growing competition
for influence and market share from other economies.
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The Telegraph, U.K.:
World Needs America
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El Pais, Spain:
Playing Chicken is the
World's Newest Sport
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan:
U.S. Must Prevent Another
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Yomiori Shimbun, Japan:
U.S. Lawmakers Should
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Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Russia:
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Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany:
'Radical' Republicans Threaten U.S. with Ruin
Tiscali Notizie, Italy:
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Salzburger Nachrichten, Austria:
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Gazeta, Russia:
America's Astonishing 'Battle for the Ceiling'
People's Daily, China:
U.S. Game of Chicken Threatens Creditors and Economy
Die Zeit, Germany:
U.S. Risks 'Plunging World' Into New Financial Crisis
O Globo, Brazil:
Global Economy Hangs
on 'Mood' of U.S. Voters
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany:
Who Cares about the U.S. Economy?
Folha, Brazil:
U.S. Conservatives Threaten to Plunge U.S. into 'Lost Decade'
Foreign Policy magazine, an American bimonthly magazine, sought
opinions from nine leading academic experts on global affairs, including Francis Fukuyama, Joseph S. Nye and Robert Keohane on the
biggest foreign-policy challenges America confronts. Thirty-two percent of them
said their short list would include the rising power of China, up from 23
percent in 2008. The scholars said East Asia was the region of the greatest
strategic importance to the United States today, with 45 percent identifying it
as the most significant region - or 15 percent more than 2008.
And let us not forget that there
are reasons we shouldn't take the election campaign at face value, because the
Republican primaries are getting wilder on other issues as well. Take former Senator
Rick Santorum and Texas Governor Rick Perry, for instance. Santorum said he
believed that the entire West Bank belongs to Israel. According to him, the
West Bank is filled with Israelis and is thus is Israeli territory. Perry, on
the other hand, said it was a bad idea to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, and
that if elected president, he would reverse Obama's decision and send them back
to counter Iranian influence.
What should one make of such
comments? If the Republicans can be so absurd on the campaign trail, can we really
take them seriously?
*Fei Erzi is a senior
writer with China Daily.
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